YEP Jury select their all-time favourite Leeds Rhinos coach

CHRISTINE KIDD

Picking my favourite Leeds Rhinos coach is not easy and it’s very difficult to pick out just one.

Tony Smith has to be a favourite as he started the ‘Golden Generation’ winning streak.

He seemed to have just what was needed at the time to push the team on and get them on the right track to winning trophies.

He kept faith in the youngsters coming through and added some experience to the team to enable them to win the Grand Final twice and the World Club Challenge.

He left the Rhinos after the 2007 Grand Final win to take up the position of England coach.

Brian ‘Bluey’ McClennan followed Tony Smith as coach, joining the Rhinos in 2008. He was a different type of coach and focused a lot on team culture and was an advocate of ‘kaizen’ – continuous improvement.

He made them look at how they did things and how their procedures and performances could be improved by making small changes. He won back-to-back Grand Finals with Leeds in 2008 and 2009 before returning home to New Zealand after the 2010 season.

DIANNE HALL

This week’s task is to pick our favourite coach and I am undecided. Go with my heart or my head?

My heart says Graham 
Murray but my head says Brian McDermott.

Graham ‘Muzza’ Murray became coach in 1997 and transformed us from easy beats to a fearsome team that could defend and attack with equal ferocity and clinical precision. He took us to our first Grand Final in 1998 and our first Challenge Cup success in 1999 for 21 years.

Though only with us for two seasons he left a lasting legacy and was probably the instigator of the ‘Golden Generation’, starting the team spirit that is hopefully being resurrected again by our current coaching regime. He was a very sociable man, well liked by all who met him.

My other favourite was Brian McClennan, a Kiwi who took us to two Grand Final victories and two World Cub Challenges. Like Muzza he was extremely likeable and kept the team mantra of togetherness going. Whilst I admire Brian McDermott’s undoubted success, I wasn’t a fan of the man himself!

GRAHAM POULTER

So now we have completed our team and in my opinion it would be very successful, considering the talent in the team – men who possessed a never-say-die attitude, players with the right mentality and they all possessed a steely determination, absolute winners.

So the man to coach the team for me, simply has to be Leeds Rhinos’ most successful coach.

I’m obviously talking about the tough, uncompromising Brian McDermott. For some of the Leeds fans he was like Marmite, they either liked him or they didn’t. The guy is an absolute winner and he got the very best out of his team when it was most needed, when it mattered the most.

Just look at how many Grand Finals St Helens got to, but when they played in the finals, especially against us, they lost them. There’s no point getting to a final and then not winning the game.

It turned sour for him in the end, but looking back I’m extremely proud of the success that he delivered to the club.

He and his players gave me some of the best days and nights that I’ve ever experienced in watching Leeds, lifelong unforgettable memories.

ADAM ANDERSON

Picking a favourite coach for Leeds Rhinos is a tough decision.

Brian McDermott is the most successful Leeds coach, Brian McClennan carried on the reins and Tony Smith took us to the glory.

You’ve got to go with your instinct on this and I have to say Tony Smith.

When he came from Huddersfield Giants he wasn’t a really big name in the coaching industry and didn’t have the best run with them, but you got the feeling he was going to take us that next step.

He wasn’t afraid of using the young players in the squad he had and that built into what we had for years to come.

A couple of weeks ago, we heard him speak to Brad Dwyer on the DogCast podcast and just listening to what he had to say about all his clubs and management was inspiring for all to see.

The players had trust in his decision making and he repaid that trust.

It looks like the current team are starting to get that with Richard Agar and hopefully he can put him in this list in years to come.

IAN SHARP

Another week goes by and still no Super League. It is really starting to grate now and I am guessing it’s the same for all you guys out there too.

On to coaches this week, and picking just one is impossible so I’ve gone for three.

The first for me is Daryl Powell. I have to credit him with in my opinion starting off the whole ‘Golden Generation’ at the Rhinos.

Having played at Leeds from 1998 to 2000 I think he had the idea that the “Spirit of the Rhinos” was there, and when he took over as coach in 2001, he opened up the way we played and let the kids express themselves.

Then Tony Smith, he brought some structure to the passion that the team were playing with, and he brought on the defence which took us up another level.

My third choice has to be Brian McDermott.

He never got the credit he deserved as coach, as I think his demeanour was hard for fans to relate to.

But by god he did something to inspire that team on to amazing things, that all the fans at Leeds were proud of.

MATT FOWLER

There have been some great coaches of Leeds since I first began watching. David Ward was the first I remember with any clarity and virtually all since have had some success except Dean Lance and Dave Furner.

Daryl Powell blooded the golden generation and Tony Smith polished the rough diamonds. Brian McClennan only tinkered with what he had been left and continued the success.

Brian McDermott kept the core group together but rebuilt the side several times. Look at the sides that won the 2011 and the 2017 Grand Finals and they were very different. He was not every fan’s cup of tea but the fact remains he is Leeds’ most successful coach.

He is right up there as one of my favourites but Graham Murray just pips him. Graham started a new culture at Leeds following the big spending Doug Laughton.

He laid the foundations for the years of success and growth at the club.

A lovely guy off the field, he made you feel part of the journey. Everyone was brought together and he gave belief to the fans and players. He was my favourite Leeds coach.

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